Horsey Love
by reginassthief
Summary: One shot. AU. Regina works in a farm where she supervisors the horse rides. When two late arrivals come she realises there is a pull between all three of them.
1. Part One

One-shot.

I don't know where this came from, it was just something I'd been thinking of most of the day. I didn't really have a fully thought out plan, I just typed and went wherever my fingers went and this was the final product. Hope you like it.

Dimples-Outlaw Queen (This that the ship name? Well, it is now)

 _1, 2, 3, 4, 5..._ Regina counts her steps as she follows of the already-made circle of shoe and hoof prints. Lightly gripping Rocinante's reins, she slowly guides the horse around the indoor stable as the child seated atop of him strokes his mane, their parent beside them in case they fall off, which is pretty unlikely.

Regina counts her steps out of habit- an annoying habit, but she can never stop herself from doing it, her mind going on autopilot. She doesn't hate her job, she's around things she loves; horses, the smell of stables, even the children that come and go. She can't help but let the smile form on her face whenever a child is giddy, can't wait to sit on a _real_ horse for the first time as Daniel gets everything ready for them. So no, she doesn't hate it. But there's not a lot of brain work in walking a horse around in a circle. It's easy money, easy work which means she isn't paid much for it.

She reaches the podium and stops, allowing Daniel to help the kid off the horse. Regina begins to get ready to take Rocinante out of the stable as the last child makes their way out of the barn. Finally, she can spend some proper time with Rocinante. She says goodnight to Daniel as he takes his things off the shelf and begins to lead the horse out.

''Sorry we're late,'' an out-of-breath male voice shouts slightly. ''We couldn't find the stable. Is it too late for him to have a ride?''

Regina breathes out, annoyed. _Yes, it is_ , she thinks, sighing once more and rolling her eyes.

''Regina?'' she hears Daniel asks.

Regina turns around, about to tell them that it is too late but the moment she sees the little boy standing there, holding his...father's hand, her annoyance at them delaying her time ceases. She looks to Daniel who shrugs but she knows all he wants to do is go home- he may love horses too but not enough to want to spend time after work with them.

''I'm sorry,'' she says, sighing again. ''We have to stick to a schedule and once the time is up...'' Her heart grows heavily as guilt forms in her stomach as the little boy downcasts his eyes, a sad pout forming on his lips.

''O-okay,'' the man says, a slight disappointment heard in his voice which only seems to make the whole situation worse for Regina. ''There's always next time. Come on, Roland.'' He begins leading the boy out of the stable. Regina watches as child hangs his head, drags his feet across the floor.

 _He really wanted to have a go,_ a little voice speaks. ''Wait!'' Regina calls back. Both father and son turn around. She can't deny them now. ''He can have a ride.'' she sees Daniel sigh and roll his eyes, which she silences with a glare. ''It's only five minutes.''

The man smiles, as does the boy, which makes Regina die a little more inside of cuteness at the sight of his little dimples. ''Are you sure?'' the father asks.

Regina nods then address the boy. ''Daniel will help you find a helmet.'' She looks to said person who gives the little boy a small wave and a smile and watches the boy run over to him. She guides Rocinante back to the podium as the man leans against the railing.

''Are you sure we're not bothering you?'' he asks.

''It's fine, really.'' She gives him a smile as Roland comes running over to the stand. ''Like I said; it's five minutes.''

The man nods, asks the boy if he's ready to which Roland nods and asks, ''Can I stroke him?''

Regina spies the food bucket by the edge of the podium. She usually feeds him on the breaks but now...

Still holding onto the reins she reaches into the bucket and picks up an apple. Holding it in Roland's direction, she says: ''I think it's near his feeding time so why don't I let our special little rider for the day feed him.'' The boys eyes light up making a smile spread across Regina's face. He slowly extends his little hand out to Rocinante. The horse takes the apple willingly and suddenly causing Roland to jump back a little (she hears his father gasp quietly) and make the horse move slightly. Regina hand instantly begins stroking Rocinante, calming the horse down. ''Careful, Roland. You don't want to spook him.''

''Sorry,'' he says, shuffling his feet. ''Can I ride him now?''

Regina smiles, makes sure Rocinante's calm. ''I don't see why not.'' Daniel walks over to the podium and hoists Roland onto the horse. Regina looks to his father. ''You need to stand beside him,'' she tells him. A surprised 'oh' comes out of his mouth as he stands straighter against the railings. ''It's a safety precaution in case he falls off.''

''Of course,'' and he makes his way down the steps, standing behind the boy and holding his leg lightly as Roland happily strokes the horse.

Regina begins the slow walk, following her footsteps once more, going into that irritating habit of counting her steps until the man's voice interrupts them. ''Do you do this every day?'' he asks.

Without looking at him, she replies. ''Most days. Some days I get the day off and someone else will come in, but usually it's me.''

''Does it ever get boring?''

Regina shrugs, still looking forward. ''I wouldn't say boring, it's just...'' _Just what? You do the same thing every day. It is a boring, simple job._ ''A simple job.''

They're reaching the podium again. One more round and Roland's time will be up. The whole thing is a little unusual. The parents don't talk to her. More than not they talk to the child. No one is ever late, yet this man (who she doesn't even know the name of she realises) is and has done both of these things. _It's probably nothing_ , she thinks. _Just one of those days._ But is it? She feels a kind of pull to him, to him and his son.

She glances behind her and sees him smiling, noticing he also has those dimples but while little Roland's has her falling to pieces in cuteness overload, his has her falling to pieces in other ways and...She looks away feeling almost shamed. She only just met him five minutes ago, what the hell is wrong with her?

Once again, they're nearing to podium. Daniel is waiting to help Roland off and horse and the five minutes she promised them is almost up. Regina halts Rocinante, Daniel helps Roland, and his father climbs back up the steps.

''Does he have a name?'' Roland asks.

Regina nods. ''Rocinante.'' she says.

Roland smiles, those dimples showing again. ''Bye-bye, Rokinantee.'' Regina laughs slightly at his pronunciation of the name. ''Hope to see you again soon.'' He gives the horse a little pat on the nose then runs back over to Daniel to get his helmet off.

Regina ties Rocinante's reins to the post and climbs up onto the podium. ''Thank you for doing that.'' the man says.

Regina shakes it off. ''It's fine. Just don't let any of the other kids hear him say he just had a horse ride. I do want to go home at some point.''

The man laughs, tells her he'll try not to but can't make any promises, to which Regina smiles back in response. ''Well...'' he says, taking Roland's hand. ''We better be off. We've already taken up too much of your time.''

Regina nods. ''I have to get Rocinante sorted out.''

He smiles and she smiles back as she looks into his blue eyes, her throat going dry and heart thumping, when the atmosphere changes and that _pull_ becomes stronger and he reaches out to grab her hand as they're smile fades and Regina waits, anticipation blooming as the pull gets tighter and she waits for something to happen.

But then Daniel coughs and the moment is lost, reality hits and his hand falls to his side. Regina bites her lip and looks away; shame, disappointment, guilt, regret, anything all running through her. The man coughs (God, she still doesn't know his name) tells her he must be going now and she watches father and son walk up the ramp and out of the door.

She stands there a little longer and Daniel chuckles and grins, once more grabbing his bag and tossing it over his shoulder. ''You fancy him.'' he says.

Regina frowns and looks at him, argues 'No, I don't', which only makes Daniel smile more. ''Yes you do.'' matter-of-fact ringing through. ''That was the same look you just do give me.'' She pushes him as he walks past then jumped down on the straw covered floor before he has a chance to do it back.

She unties Rocinante and begins to lead him out. Maybe she does fancy this stranger, maybe she does adore his son, but the chances of them ever meeting again we're pretty slim so with a final sigh, Regina takes the horse back to his smaller stable and gets ready to go back to her lonely life.


	2. Part Two

**So, most of you guys wanted a second part to this so I decided, 7 months later, to give it to you. This isn't one of my best and is a bit weird at parts but I dunno, I might carry this on. But I hope you like it regardless :)**

To say she's annoyed is a bloody understatement; pissed off is the word she'd use right now.

Daniel had messaged her telling her that he wasn't coming to work today, "something having come up", he said and of course it had to be April, when all the kids were off school, all piling into the farm to see all the babies that had been born.

April was the farm's busiest month, the time when it made the most money. From opening time and closing time it was always full. Breaks were pushed back or shortened so there was enough time for all the kids to join in in all the games and activities they set up and all morning Regina had trotted kid after kid around in that stable.

The line had been never ending. It was rare on all other months for the queue to extend just a little past gate to the waiting area, but this time of month, the queue found itself outside the barn.

Her mood took another sour turn when she could find nobody to cover to Daniel's shift. Everyone was either busy, sleeping or too hungover to deal with excited kids for hours on end so that had left Regina toing and froing from the floor to the stand, helping kids put their helmets on and jumping back down to grab Rocinante's reins and guiding him along.

Daniel's- and everyone else's- absence also made the wait longer. Daniel would usually take Susie out of her stall so they had two horses going at the same time, limiting the time spent waiting but that couldn't happen since it was just her so instead she was set with restless children and irritated parents, the latter which probably blamed her for their wasted time.

Her break had also been pushed back by an hour and a half. It wouldn't have bothered her usually, she can wait, only she'd been running late herself this morning- a rare thing for her, next time, don't let Mal convince her that going out for a few drinks would be good for her and then not getting home until after 2 in the morning was a good idea- so she hadn't had time to grab anything to eat before she left this morning leaving her hungry and grouchy by 11 o'clock.

So yes, she was pissed off.

Or she is until she hears an excitable squeal and almost ends up with a little person on her until said little person stops himself before that can happen.

"Hello, you." Regina says as Roland starts looking around. Regina also follows until she spies the boy's father coming up the road.

"Look, Daddy, it's the horsey girl- you said we'd never see her again but we did. Look!"

Regina laughs at the nickname, only then does she realise that he didn't know her name as much as she only overheard his.

"Can I ride Rokinantee again?"

She's about to say _yes, of course he can_ but his dad beats talking to her.

"I thought you wanted to go to the park?"

The boy gives a dramatic sigh, and an eyeroll to go with it. "I _did_ but then I saw the horsey girl and now I wanna ride Rokinantee." He turns back to her. "Please can I ride Rokinantee. Pleaaaaseeee."

Regina's taken aback a little, but melts at the sight of his dimples. She thinks back to the long line she'll have to greet her when she gets off her break- to the fact that they'll be waiting a long time, but it's money for the farm and for her and he obviously wants to go.

"Course you can, but it is up to your daddy."

The boy turns back to him. Pleads again and his dad sighs. "Fine."

Roland lets out an excited yay, grabbing onto Regina's hand and pulling her along, shouting, "Come on! We need to get there now!"

Regina's, once again, taken aback, being dragged along the street before Roland's father halts them- or more specifically Roland, and moves down to the boy's level.

"Now, Roland. We don't drag strangers along the street, do we?" The boy lets go of her hand and shakes it head, downcasting his eyes and Regina can't help but smile. It's almost as if Roland drags strangers down the road on a daily basis.

"Good, now I'm sure…" The man looks at her, stopping in his sentence and Regina's smile fades, realising what he's waiting for.

"R-regina."

He smiles, goes back to talking to his son. "Now I'm sure Regina can talk herself down the street, she doesn't need to be half dragged, so you can hold her hand properly or you can walk with me."

Roland pulls a face at that and Regina tries to hold back her laughter.

"I'll hold Gina's hand." And with that, Roland takes Regina's hand again as she wraps hers around his little one.

…:...:...

She's still got a bit more of her break left when they get back to the stables. There's no line of kids thankfully, and Regina lets go of Roland's hand to unlock the barn.

"You lock the barn?" the man asks as Regina pushes it open and Roland runs in.

"Security reasons." she shrugs and follows Roland as his father follows her.

Roland's waiting for them, sitting on a chair, legs swinging as Rocinante lays in the corner.

"Come on, Roland." Regina says, walking over to there the helmets are kept and grabbing one as the boy runs over. She's securing it on his head as she carries on speaking. "Now, you're lucky; I still have some of my break left which is why there isn't a very long line waiting for me outside, otherwise you'd be waiting for a long time."

"You don't mind us using up your break?"

She looks to his father- she really needs to find out his name- sitting on the same seat Roland just was and shakes her head. She doesn't actually mind, she realises.

"I was actually tempted just to go home until this one came running towards me." she says, bumping Roland on the nose with her finger as he laughs.

Regina jumps down off the stand and makes her way over to where Rocinante is.

"You're the only one here today?" the father asks.

Picking up Rocinante's reigns, the horse gets the idea and begins to stand up, allowing Regina to lead him to where Roland is waiting.

"Yep." she says, answering the man's question. "Something came up for Daniel and all the other's can't make it. Not that there are many others but yeah, it's just me."

She's about to climb back up onto the stand to put Roland on the horse when the father stops her.

"I'll do that." he says, standing up. "Saves you having to climb up and down."

She smiles, and says _thank you._ Once Roland is on the horse, his father also jumps down, already knowing he needs to stand beside Roland and Regina beings the walk.

"It's Robin, by the way."

"What?" Regina says, confused and looking back at him.

"My name." Roland's father says. "It's Robin."

"Oh." is all she says and they carry on their walk around the circle in silence.

Robin. She hadn't expected that.

"You know, I can help you out. You said about the line of people queuing up and I thought, since it's only you, you might want some...help?"

"You'd actually do that?" she asks. It's very rare that anyone would even offer to help, let alone a parent.

"Of course. I saw they had an activities centre for Roland, could put him there for a few hours, keep him out of the way."

Regina smiles, ponders the idea but how long would Roland stay there until he got bored? He couldn't stay here with them, there's nothing for him to do, but she guesses if that learning tour was still going on…

"Maybe don't leave Roland in the activities centre, but there's usually a tour of the farm that we do, they go around seeing all the animals, learning about them, he might enjoy that more."

Robin nods, turning back to Roland, lost in his own world on the horse, and for a second Regina actually forgot he was there.

"Would you like that, Roland?"

The boy nods, playing with Rocinante's reign as they near the stand again. This was happening.

Robin climbs up onto the stand, helping Roland off the horse and taking his helmet off as Regina also climbs up, wiping her hands on her jeans as she stands up.

"Thank you." she says and Robin smiles, says, _No worries_ and tells her he'll be back in a minute, taking Roland by the hand and leading him out as people begin to walk in and Regina gets the helmets ready.

…:...:...

She's shutting Rocinante's stall as Robin leans against the other one. She takes an apple out of the hanging basket and throws it to Rocinante.

"Well, today was fun. Unexpected, but fun."

Regina smiles. "I'm glad. Maybe I should hire you."

Robin laughs, his hands fisting into his pockets. "Maybe you should. I could do with a job."

"You don't have one?"

Shrugging, he says, "Not anymore. Not after I lost it anyway."

Regina smiles sadly, giving him an apology, one he rebuffs.

"It's not your fault." he says, moving away from the other stall. "So, would you give me a job?" He begins walking towards the barn and Regina follows him.

"If you really want one." she says. "It gets boring after a while and all the days are already taken but, if Daniel or somebody ever decides not to come in, would you be willing to come in?"

He nods, _sure, I can do that,_ and Regina smiles.

"Well then, you have yourself a job."

"Thanks."

A silence passes between them and Regina jumps up to sit on the stand, legs dangling down. The rest of the day hadn't been too bad, her mood had formed from having to do things on her own anyway, so Robin being here had helped her change that mood. She also realises that they should go pick up Roland, the tour would be over by now and the farm's closing yet she finds she doesn't want to leave this place. There's something about it when it's empty, no horses, no children; just the smell of straw and maybe some shit but she doesn't actually mind it. Likes it.

"So…" says Robin, breaking the silence. "You and Daniel...have you ever?"

"No!" she instantly denies and glances a look towards him, sees his smug grin, and she breaks herself. Smiling and looking away. "I'm not gonna answer that."

Robin also looks away, his grin not fading. "It's fine. You already answered the question."

Regina breathes out heavily. Not looking at him, she answers, "Once. But it didn't work."

"Why not?"

She doesn't know why she's telling him this. They've met twice and she only found out his name a couple of hours ago but she reckons she's told people she knows less more things so she goes ahead and tells him.

"Because we saw each other every second of the day."

"And you don't like that?"

Regina shrugs, looks down at her hands and swinging legs which stop swinging.

"People need their space."

"Right."

Another silence passes them and Regina eyes him up, then frowns, wonders why he asked her that then decides that two can play at that game.

"What about you?"

"What about me?"

"Well, it makes two to make a child."

"That didn't work out, either."

He doesn't say anymore on the matter and Regina is about to leave it, stay that they should go find Roland but at the thought of Roland, she can't help but ask, "Does he still see his mother?"

Robin nods. "Yeah. He sees her more than he sees me."

Regina nods in reply, doesn't say anything else and just scans her eyes around the stable.

"He likes you." Robin says and Regina's eyes land back onto him. "I don't know why but, he really likes you."

She smiles at that. "I like him, too." Then she jumps down, but as she does so, she loses her balance, falling into him. He catches her, his hand tightening around her arm and that pull that had been missing all day and was only felt that first time reappears again, as the air thickens and Regina's beings thumping. She can feel Robin's too, wrapped here in his should-be-awkward embrace but it isn't awkward, it's actually...nice. She lifts her head up and it's over as soon as it happens- Regina wonders if it even happened- his lips peck hers and it must of happened because he straightening her up and pushing her away, muttering a _sorry, that wasn't supposed to happen_ but she barely hears it because her brain is still trying to process it all.

She's just been kissed by, basically, a stranger.

Why does it always seem worse when you're sober?

She pushes that away, mumbles, _it doesn't matter_ then says how they should go find Roland.

…:...:...

They find the boy asleep on the couch in the main office, his curls falling into his eyes as Robin walks over and picks him up, cradling him in his chest as the child sleeps on.

Now's her chance, if she wants it. Something she's been thinking of since they left the barn. There's obviously some kind of attraction between them, but, he walks here now and that hadn't worked with Daniel and Daniel still had feelings for her but...what he didn't know wouldn't hurt right? She says his name before she can stop herself. He's just about to walk about the door when he turns around and she's almost close to saying that _it's nothing, it doesn't matter_ but instead she makes that leapt.

She looks around the office, there's no one here but those three, everyone else having gone home.

"Would...you like to go out for some coffee...with me...someday?"

She feels awkward, wants to take the words back instantly but Robin just smiles and nods. Says, _Yes, he'd love to_ and suddenly it doesn't feel as awkward- Regina doesn't want to take the words back anymore- instead, she smiles herself. Maybe this could be the start of something.


End file.
